Republicans, White House trade cliff offers

Deal before Christmas difficult, Sen. Reid says

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — House Republicans and the White House have traded a new set of proposals to avoid the fiscal cliff, in a fresh sign of movement as tax increases and spending cuts loom at the beginning of next year.

“We sent the White House a counteroffer that would achieve tax and entitlement reform to solve our looming debt crisis and create more American jobs,” House Speaker John Boehner’s spokesman, Michael Steel, said.

He said Republicans’ offer was in response to a new White House offer but wouldn’t describe the GOP offer in detail.

The White House did not confirm a new offer but the Associated Press reported that Boehner and Obama have exchanged at least partial offers in the past two days. The White House’s offer includes $1.4 trillion in new revenue, down from $1.6 trillion, other reports said.

Boehner and President Barack Obama held a phone call Tuesday to discuss the offers, the Associated Press added.

Publicly, the White House and congressional Republicans spent the day pushing each other for details about how they will avoid the fiscal cliff.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said it would be difficult to reach a deal before Christmas, but said “we can do things very quickly” once an agreement is in hand.

Boehner, an Ohio Republican, took to the House floor on Tuesday to demand specific cuts from the White House as part of a deal — only to be rebuffed later in the day by the White House.

While Republicans haven’t stopped insisting that Bush-era tax cuts should be extended for all, Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky spent more time emphasizing spending cuts on Tuesday.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney pushed back against Boehner and said that the administration has detailed spending cuts for at least a year, and that House Republicans haven’t given details about how they would raise revenue in a fiscal-cliff deal.

He added that the White House’s cuts include savings from entitlement programs.

“In the battle of specifics, the outcome has been decided,” according to Carney.

Republicans were not satisfied, though. McConnell said this would be the week to find out if the president backs any spending cuts at all, and Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota suggested Obama is “obsessed” with raising taxes.

“As the speaker said today, we’re still waiting for the White House to identify what spending cuts the president is willing to make as part of the ‘balanced approach’ he promised the American people. The longer the White House slow-walks this process, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff,” Boehner’s spokesman Steel said.

Meanwhile, a senior House Democrat said fiscal-cliff talks should steer clear of the U.S. debt limit. Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the House Minority whip, told reporters on Tuesday: “I think the debt limit ought not to be part of the negotiations because I think it’s inevitable.”

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